Never Underestimate A Girl
by Running to my Heart
Summary: Everyone said he was an evil, old, hook-nosed git, but she knew different. And she was out to prove it...
1. Chapter 1

"Never Underestimate A Girl"

"Never Underestimate A Girl"

This is a short Hermione Granger-Severus Snape fic that just hit me one day. If anyone has any ideas on how to continue it, or whether or not I should, don't hesitate to leave me a message or a review!

Disclaimer-I don't own anything recognizable as J.K. Rowling's.

I. Saving Harry. Mercy-killing Dumbledore. Spying on Voldemort. These were the great things Snape had accomplished. But Hermione appreciated the small kindnesses much more. When she had had a question in Potions, he had answered it completely, if disdainfully. And she appreciated, even if Harry and Ron didn't, that those detentions (for the most part) were to hammer discipline into their hard heads. And now that idiot had to go and be the hero, getting bitten by that great bloody snake, and maybe even paralyze himself.

Hermione allowed herself to panic for exactly 37 seconds , then turned to assess Severus's injuries. Once some of the tattered cloth and dried blood was removed from the bite, the brilliant young witch was relieved to find that it wasn't as bad as she had originally thought. After she'd bound up the wound, she sat back on her heels to think of ways to counteract the venom that was currently coursing through his veins.

Suddenly, the solution hit her. A certain potion she had read about contained an intermediary stage that was the most potent anti-venom known to man. Thinking that that and a powerful blood-replenishing potion might help clear the venom, she set to work. She already had some of the blood potion with her but was dismayed to find that her bottle of anti-venom had passed it's time limit and was lethal again. She shook herself and realized that Snape could have planned for this very contingency.

II. The young hands that were surreptitiously rifling through his clothes were about to be removed from their person. Then the person's murmuring cut through his murderous considerations. _HERMIONE?!_ The fool girl was going to get herself killed what with Voldemort merely steps away! Cracking one eyelid under the veil of his hair, the professor was startled into a gurgling exclamation when neither Potter nor Voldemort was in evidence. "Hush, Severus," she ordered, unconsciously using his first name as she concentrated on healing his wounds. "You will remove your hands from my person this instant, Ms. Granger," causing her to blush, "and allow me to die in peace, as I deserve."

Hermione flushed with more than embarrassment and her eyes began to glitter dangerously. "You are NOT going to die, and if you say one more foolish thing like that Professor," her voice laden with acid, "I'll hex you silent for the next month!" "Fool girl!" he exclaimed, blood rising to his face as well, "You should be helping Potter and Weasley!" "They don't need me," she said with an indecipherable look on her face. Then, inexplicably, she began to giggle. This turned into a full-throated laugh that sounded like a glorious, silver rain, though Snape, of course, would never admit that. Instead- "Ms. Granger, you will stop cackling like a mad hippogriff this instant, or I will hex you into silence!" Gradually, her laugh subsided into giggles that were only occasionally interrupted by stray hiccups. "C'mon you cranky ol' bat," she said, and side-apparated with her beloved professor to a place where he could get some much needed rest.

A/N-Well, what's the general consensus? This is my first HG/SS fic and there's another chapter to it but I want to know if anyone thinks I should continue. R&R plz!


	2. Chapter 2

Hi

Hi! Sorry it took so long to update but here's Part 2!

III. Hermione woke up on the first day of school in her second year. She was excited to be going to all of her classes except one. Professor Snape's hatred for the Troublesome Trio was in no way unknown. And yet Hermione respected him for his vast store of intelligence-if nothing else. And, she sighed, it was yet again with Harry, Ron, and the Slytherins. Just once, she wished she could be in one of Snape's classes where her intelligence instead of Harry's arrogance was brought to the forefront. She really didn't think he noticed her at all. The lessons of the day were interminable until the time for Potions came.

A greater sigh escaped the young witch's lips as she stared at the teacher. Harry and Ron exchanged confused looks before returning to their cauldrons. In her mind, Hermione was shaking her head, wondering how those two knuckleheads could NOT see how brilliant this man was. Unfortunately, at least it would have been to her mind, she was not as invisible as she thought.

Snape was baffled by the girl's interest. He knew, in a very detached way, that he was nothing much to look at. He also knew he's been nothing, if not harder on her than the rest of the class. And she SHOULD have hated him as a result of this. Instead, he was getting all of these gusty sighs and calf-eyed stares. More than irritating him, this scared him because he KNEW that there was nothing about him that should interest a girl her age. Finally, after the third sigh, Snape had had it. "Ms. Granger, you will stop distracting your fellow students this instant, or suffer detention with me."

Far from deterring her, Hermione thought in a whimsical mood, this only spurred her to louder sighs, more dramatic stress, and a laughable interest in the spot right above Snape's head. "Detention, Ms. Granger," he snapped out, "and 50 points from Gryffindor." She barely noticed the last half of the punishment, or the groans from her classmates in lieu of her exultation.

Snape shook his head before returning to the distasteful chore of grading papers written by dunderheads; he would never understand teenagers, especially teenage girls.

IV. Severus Snape was a man of many virtues, thus far undiscovered of course, but patience was not one of them. Being coddled, petted, and just plain spoiled was not something he was accustomed to. The thing that probably disconcerted him the most was the fact that it was Hermione who was doing the spoiling. All of the times he had ever encountered women, they had treated him with a cold respect bordering on unfriendliness. Hermione had felt the same way, as far as he knew, so he was determined to find out what bet she had taken, or debt she was in, that forced her to care for him in such a way. But how to go about it?

Hermione was not as cheery as she pretended around Snape. Many people were pressuring her for interviews after the battle. And, to make it that much worse, the few people who knew Snape had survived were badgering her to bring him out. She passed the all off with one excuse or another, but felt intensely guilty because her motives were mostly selfish. But she was determined to make the professor admit that he felt as she did.

TBC!

So tell me what you think, and if you have any ideas on how I should continue this!


	3. Chapter 3

"Never Underestimate A Girl"

So first off, I would just like to apologize for taking so long to update. This last year and a half has been really stressful and hectic, and it has distracted me no end from my writing. But here I am, back at last! Hope you like the new chapter! Oh, and for all you nerds who know what I mean by this-I LOST THE GAME! –mad cackle- HA!

Standard disclaimer applies.

V. This molly-coddling was about to wear on Severus's last nerve, which was dangerously thin to begin with. Whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, Hermione was there to take care of it. He was thankful she at least gave him privacy to use the privy on his own, though he suspected she hadn't even done that when he was still groggy from the battle. Severus was not at all acquainted with plain, unselfish kindness and love so he, of course, got more and more waspish as he suspected more and more that she wanted something from him. What he didn't know was that he was right, just not about what he thought she wanted. He of course assumed that the little chit wanted something of his knowledge, some arcane bit he had tucked away, and was just awaiting her chance to pick his brain. Though this was one of the things Hermione wanted to do, she wanted him willing and by God, she was going to have him that way. Perfectly willing, that is, to strangle her to death!

Hermione stared coldly at Severus before picking up the plate of uneaten food and dumping it down the disposal. Since they existed like this in the muggle world, she was very careful not to use obvious magic, but if anyone were to look under her sink, they would notice a very different, very fat plant from anything they had known. Hermione loved very few things in this world, especially after THAT incident, but her Man-eating Tracker was one and Crookshanks the other. She still shook with anger over that time, even though it had already been months. Schooling her expression to indifference she turned to look at the professor still too weak to rise from his chair unassisted. "I told you so," she said, relishing the finality of that statement and finally getting to say it to this incorrigible patient of hers. The shock on his face told her that he honestly had not expected her to follow through on her threat and this new show of backbone and will was slightly startling in the least. He was just going to have to get used to it.

VI. This new Hermione he stared at was a completely different creature from even the woman who had rescued him from the bite, and completely unrecognizable from the timid but brilliant student he had taught at school. She had bite and temerity in her words that challenged him. Her actions went against everything he had come to expect from this docile sweet person. It infuriated him, but it also invigorated him and somewhere, in a very deep part of his mind, he was thanking her for pushing to get well, to live. Then she left one day, while he was still asleep, and did not return til late that evening, looking disheveled and exhausted from some kind of labor. He ranted and railed, then sulked, and finally, just came out and asked what had happened while she moved about the kitchen, cleaning and cooking though she didn't in anyway look to be in a state for it. When she almost burned the toast, he had had enough. "Give me that," he said irritably from the level of her waist in his wheelchair. Severus was also not accustomed to trying to look down his nose at someone that was taller than him. (Temporarily! He railed in his head). Whatever it was, something he did worked and she let him finish the meal, a little in shock. "Are you going to enlighten me as to the events of this day or do I have to sit here and stare like a dumb giant, drooling as you do even now?" This acerbic tirade seemed to jolt her a bit, though, for some strange reason, he was pained to see the hurt on her face. He dismissed this emotion however, as superfluous, and stared her into submission, willing her to tell him. He only thought he was prepared.

"I got a job at the muggle hospital," she announced. The dead silence that followed was worse than she had thought it would be. "Have you lost every wasted cell in that dunder head of yours?" he ground out from behind clenched teeth. She winced involuntarily then straightened her shoulders. "No, Severus, actually I haven't. Though you haven't once thought to ask, we are actually living on the normal side of things and this side requires that one pay bills and such. I need a job to do this. So I got one. That simple." This slightly ranting diatribe made her feel better, but only slightly. It had been a trying day and she had thought to, once or twice, just bewitch herself a job, but her conscience always caught her before she had the chance. Finally, with her few muggle credentials and her parents' assistance, she had gotten a job as a pharmacy tech at the hospital around the corner. Though she would have to take some refresher courses, the hospital was badly understaffed and they were willing to take anyone on. She would have to work many long hours to make up for all the rent and bills she hadn't paid in the last three months, but that was ok. It was time to let Severus figure things out on his own, and she had some thinking to do for herself, which she apparently couldn't do with this crazy man around. How was he going to take all this, she wondered uncertainly.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

First off, I'd like to apologize for the huge gap in my writing… Life kinda took a turn for the crazy and I've been dealing with that. But now! I have returned triumphant!

(Three months after Hermione took the hospital job)

VII. Severus was frustrated pacing up and down the hall with the use of his cane, waiting on that infernal woman to arrive home from that dismal job she worked, day in and day out. He had tried every unlock spell he knew to get out of the house, to no avail once again. Being locked in this extremely tiny loft (she called house) everyday was going to drive him batty!…er! Finally, at 8 PM on the dot, he heard the jingle of keys in the lock and the door creak open to softly touch the wall. She was always as quiet as possible, as though she expected him to be convalescing still. _HA! _he thought with a snort, _as if I'd be caught dead on my feet any longer than necessary._

Hermione blew the hair out of her face with a frustrated sigh. She had grown all of it out in the hopes that it would all stay bound in a ponytail for work. No such luck, it was still as unruly as ever. As she removed her keys from the door, the groceries she was juggling threatened to spill out of her hands and she wobbled around gracelessly in a vain attempt to catch them. To her surprise though, neither she nor the groceries tumbled to the laminated tile floor. Long, gaunt hands had a grasp on her back and the front of the groceries.

"Se-Severus!" she squeaked inelegantly, "What are you doing up and about? You should still be abed!"

"Well with you poking and knocking about just trying to get in the house, how is a body to get any rest?" he raged coldly.

Raising her head and fixing him with her classic gimlet-eyed stare, Hermione struggled to present a mature façade. "And just what were you doing out of bed in the first place, since I know for a fact that you couldn't have possibly made it from the back of the house to the front, AND I heard you pacing like a caged lion as I climbed the stairs?" She pronounced with a progressively more triumphant tone, yet in her mind, was already preparing for his disdainful reply. And thinking to herself as she gazed him, _caged lion is not quite right. More like a dark, menacing caged panther._

Though Severus had lost even more weight from the snakebite, he still maintained the presence of an overbearing, untouchable personage. This indomitable will was one of the things that Hermione had admired him for in school, though she had little realized it then wrapped up in Ron and Harry as she had been. Pain from those memories still marred her face when she thought of them even now.

Severus was struck by the twisted, lost look in Hermione's eye before he realized that it was none of his business, and he shouldn't care in the first place. The fact that he may have put that look there had nothing to do with the sharp pain and deep longing to comfort her that had bloomed in his chest. He was just looking for a way to pay his life-debt. Shaking his head he snapped, "Are you just going to stand in the door all day, moping over whatever it is you're currently, illogically upset about?"

Hearing that sharp tone once again, Hermione shook her head and stomped through the hall to the kitchen, slammed the groceries into the sink, and began banging pots and pans onto the stove to frustratedly attempt to cook another meal.

Severus was quickly developing a headache pinpointed in his left eyeball at the ineffectual noise Hermione was making. Limping down the hall with his ebon cane, he came around the corner into the kitchen to discover her about to throw frozen chicken into a burning hot skillet. "WAIT!" he barked, stopping her dead in her tracks. "You will cease and desist this nonsense right this instant and allow me to cook, as is only proper since you will not allow me to work as a man should and keep me locked in this abominable environment by some unknown means!" This was pronounced in an increasingly loud and angry voice that made Hermione grow paler, and he developed a stronger headache.

"Fine." she said, furious. "And just so you know," she threw over her shoulder as she ran from the kitchen, "the doors are ONLY manually locked!"


End file.
